A uniformed French soldier on anti-terrorist duties had his throat cut by a knife-wielding attacker in Paris tonight.

The savage attack is feared to be a “copycat” incident following the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby by two men using weapons including knives and a meat cleaver who said they were acting in the name of Islam.

Police in the French capital described the attacker as a being “bearded, of North African origin and wearing a light coloured jihab” under a jacket.

He pounced on the soldier outside a Virgin store in La Defence, the business district of the city which was packed with Saturday afternoon shoppers.

“The attack happened just after 6pm (5pm UK time),” said a police source. “The soldier was stabbed repeatedly, most notably in the throat.

“The attacker ran away and the military are still looking for him, supported by the police. He is around 30 years old and of Arab appearance.

“The wounded soldier was taken to a local railway station for treatment and then on to hospital.”

The source said that the soldier’s life was not in danger, but he was “badly hurt”.

News of the death of British soldier Lee Rigby outside Woolwich Barracks, in south London, has dominated French media since it happened on Wednesday.

France is considered a hotbed of radical Islamists, and the country’s Vigipirate anti-terrorist surveillance plan is currently in action.

Last year Mohammed Merah, a 23-year-old French-Algerian Islamist, murdered three French soldiers near the south west city of Toulouse during a killing spree which also claimed the lives of four civilians.

Merah himself was later shot dead by police but made it clear that he had also committed the murders in the name of Islam.

It later emerged that Merah had links with terrorists groups all over the world, including ones in London.